Mystery Fire demolishes Caneville home

A middle aged woman and four children had their Caneville East Bank Demerara home completely demolished by a fire of unknown origin sometime around 19:00hrs on Saturday.

The remains of the demolished structure.

May Daniels, the occupant of the house was not at home at the time of the fire, neither were any of the four young children who reside with her since they would normally stay with a relative until her shift as a Security Officer with Neal and Massy ends. There are conflicting accounts of what transpired which leave more questions than answers.
The property is owned by Bibi Ghannie and an individual identified as Abdul Ghannie who claimed to be her brother said that he visited the home at around 19:00hrs and while there was no one at home, he recalled seeing a lit lantern inside the house.
He said that 10 minutes later he heard that the building was on fire.
The home does not have electricity but his account of a lit lantern in the house seems to have left a mark on only his memory, as none of the neighbours recalled seeing any light in the house before the fire started.
While the Guyana Fire Service did have a heavy presence on the scene, little could have been done to save the small 15 feet x 20 feet wooden house and significant amount of the blame has been cast on the state of the roads which prevented the tenders from accessing the area in a timely manner despite receiving early calls.
Caneville is located aback of Samantha Point, which is itself aback of Grove on the East Bank Demerara.
While a part of the main road to get into Caneville from the EBD Public Road is in an operable condition, a significant part of the journey into the impoverished community takes one into a “crater filled hell”, impeding the flow of just about any kind of vehicle.
To make matters worse the area does not have access to potable water and as such could not readily assist in providing any kind assistance prior to the arrival of the fire tender.